Plane carrying 72 people crashes in Nepal

A plane carrying 72 people has crashed in Nepal, killing at least 69, officials have said.

Video on local media showed thick black smoke billowing from the crash site as rescue workers and crowds gathered around the wreckage of the aircraft.

Footage on social media showed the plane flying low before beginning to spin.

At least 69 bodies have been recovered from the crash site near Pokhara International Airport in the west of the country, Yeti Airlines said.

“We expect to recover more bodies,” army spokesman Krishna Bhandari said. “The plane has broken into pieces.”

Related News

The plane was carrying 68 passengers, including three infants, and four crew members, a spokesperson for the airline said.

Of the passengers, five were Indian, four Russian and two South Korean, while there was one passenger each from Ireland, Australia, France and Argentina.

Rescue workers were having difficulty reaching the crash site as it sits in a gorge between two hills, a police official said.

“Half of the plane is on the hillside,” Arun Tamu, a local resident, said. “The other half has fallen into the gorge of the Seti river,” the police official said.

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha is the Aviation Correspondent at BusinessDay Media Limited, publishers of BusinessDay Newspapers. She is also the Deputy Editor, BusinessDay Weekender Magazine, the Saturday Weekend edition of BusinessDay. She holds a BSC in Mass Communication from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a Masters degree in Marketing at the University of Lagos. As the lead writer on the aviation desk, Ifeoma is responsible and in charge of the three weekly aviation and travel pages in BusinessDay and BDSunday. She also overseas and edits all pages of BusinessDay Saturday Weekender. She has written various investigative, features and news stories in aviation and business related issues and has been severally nominated for award in the category of Aviation Writer of the Year by the Nigeria Media Nite-Out awards; one of the Nigeria’s most prestigious media awards ceremonies. Ifeoma is a one-time winner of the prestigious Nigeria Media Merit Award under the 'Aviation Writer of the Year' Category. She is the 2025 Eloy Award winner under the Print Media Journalist category. She has undergone several journalism trainings by various prestigious organisations. Ifeoma is also a fellow of the Female Reporters Leadership Fellowship of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.